so it was VERY exiting during that first spin up and battery... i have a couple questions though...
1. the heli shook and jumped around a good bit before it got up to speed? is this normal?
2. it was difficult to hold from drifting left, i mean really bad? is that normal?

all this while not leaving the ground. and i looked it over as far as blade tracking and balance, it seems to be pretty darn acceptable right out of the box... i was suprized.

How tight are your blades? They should be tight enough that when you tilt the heli on it's side they stay in place but if you give it a little tap or shake they should drop. If they are too tight then you will get a lot of wobble until they straighten themselves out.

However, as Lankey said in your other thread, did you check the heli compared to the setup stickies? The chances are it won't be setup right out the box which can cause vibrations etc and to lean left/right etc.

i did check it and it seems ok, i very easily could be missing something as this is the first time i'm doing it and not watching it on this website... i have not done the blade check thing, i will do that first thing though... it seems they were pretty loose, not tight?? i'll check though and thank you

+1 on checking your set up. Not likely your helicopter is set up perfect out of the box. Good enough to fly….may be. Good enough to fly well….probably not. A friend of mine struggled for almost a year with his Blade 400. He was getting ready to give up the hobby when I convinced him to let me have it for a week. The head set up was all out of whack. After spending an afternoon going through it from one end to the other I had it flying really good. He came and picked it up a couple of days latter. He can now hover with control and I feel he is just about ready to loose the training gear. He told me he could not believe how much better and easier it is to fly now. Point being is learning too properly set up your helicopter is the most important thing you need to accomplish in this hobby.

Oh and it is normal if your blades are not perfectly strait for the heli to jump around a bit on start up. Once they are strait in the blade grips then things should smooth out. As psilo pointed out if your blades are too tight in the grips it will jump around more as it will take more head speed to straiten them out. Also a slight drift to the left is normal on take off. This is do to the thrust from the tail rotor. You will need to add some right cylic to compensate for this. After a while this becomes second nature and you won't even notice this. But if its really bad then its back to checking your set up.

thank you for the answers!! i will definatley be tearing into the whole thing when everything i have on order arives (tools, pitch gauge, charger)...

also, i have been using the search all morning looking for some info on some main blades that were cheap, around $5, and i just can NOT find the link to where to buy them... it's driving me crazy!! they were not wood, not carbon, some fiber something?? glass fiber maybe?? i see i will be needing about 2 more lipo's and some more blades PRONTO... thank you again for all the quick answers and help!! hopefully one day i can help out the noob...

Sometimes you can modify an order if you are logged in as a member, with a profile. Maybe not with them, but often with other suppliers. Try creating a membership profile, and see if it shows you your pending orders. Last time I did this it linked my orders placed whilst I wasn't a member, to my newly created profile, based on my e-mail address. You might be lucky enough to do that too. Wasn't with them mind you, but you never know.

You're going to need a bunch of spare parts, too. Like main shaft, ( not Esky, go align, they're available just about everywhere ), flybars, blades, ( align wood are great ). Battery's, a good charger, and if the head is plastic, put in some overtime, you will have better success with a decient head and tail.
These guys here are GREAT, you won't find better advise about anything anywhere else. Go thru the threads and do your homework.
Good luck, and remember, THE GROUND IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.

i have put 3 full batteries under my belt, while hovering the whole time. i love this hobby... thank you all for the advise!! i have 2 more batteries ordered along with 5 extra sets of blades... got a good charger, now i just need to crash and see what to order next...